''Inside Outside, Upside Down'' was a invitational art exhibition held from July 17 to September 12, 2021, at
The Phillips Collection
The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughlin, ...
in Washington, D.C., as part of the museum's centennial celebration exhibitions.
Jurors
This exhibition was an invitational exhibition which showcased the work of 64 Washington, DC area artists. The work was selected by jurors Phil Hutinet, Founding Publisher of East City Art, artist
Renée Stout, Abigail McEwen, Associate Professor of
Latin American Art
Latin American art is the combined artistic expression of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico, as well as Latin Americans living in other regions.
The art has roots in the many different indigenous cultures that inhabited the ...
,
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, and Elsa Smithgall, Senior Curator, The Phillips Collection.
Focus
The exhibition focused on capital area artists' reaction to the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic, and reflected the "vivid the turmoil, strength, and resiliency of the human spirit in the face of the past year's global COVID-19 pandemic and social upheaval."
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
also noted that the "exhibition is also a rare major museum showcase for a large group of local artists."
Notable artists
More than 800 artists submitted work to the jurors, who then invited 64 area artists to exhibit.
Some of the area's more notable artists, such as
Tim Tate,
Chawky Frenn
Chawky Frenn is a Lebanese-born American artist, author, and art professor. He currently teaches art at George Mason University in northern Virginia. His highly realistic paintings have strong narrative social and political elements. Frenn is a ...
,
Judith Peck,
Kate Kretz,
F. Lennox Campello
F. Lennox Campello is an American (born in Cuba, 1956) artist, art critic, author, art dealer, curator, and visual arts blogger. In 2016 ''The Washington City Paper'' called him "one of the most interesting people of Washington, DC."
Early li ...
,
Michael Janis
Michael Janis (born 1959) is an American artist currently residing in Washington, DC where he is one of the directors of the Washington Glass School. He is known for his work on glass using the exceptionally difficult sgraffito technique on glass ...
,
Nicolas F. Shi, and others were included in the exhibition.
Critical reception
The exhibition was widely reviewed,
and The Washington Post art critic wrote that the "show is one of the largest and most impressive to ponder the crises, paradoxes and sheer boredom of 2020, when some people sheltered at home while others spilled into the streets,"
while The Washington City Paper critic commented that the show "forces us to remember a time that left us 'confused, battered, and disoriented' through the eyes of 64 D.C.-area artists."
The show and the selection process also spawned a Salon of the Refused exhibition, exhibiting many of the rejected artists.
References
{{coord missing, Washington, D.C.
Art exhibitions in the United States
Contemporary art exhibitions